1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a dispenser apparatus that contains and dispenses a limited amount of a substance for use. The substance can be a powdered or granulated material such as sugar, salt or other foodstuff, or other substances such as laundry detergent, soap, or the like. The contained substance can also include salsa, relish or other condiment that is dispensed in a limited quantity to preserve the freshness of the undispensed portion of the substance.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,791 (referred to hereinafter as "the '791 patent") discloses several embodiments of a container for measuring and dispensing a granulated or powdered substance such as instant coffee, tea, sugar or other substances. Each container has a top that holds or retains a seal. A cup is attached to the seal with its open side facing the inside surface of the top. When the container is closed with the top, the seal forms an airtight bond between the container top and base. To measure and dispense the contained substance, the top is placed on the container, and the container is tipped upside down. The substance flows through openings into the cup. When the container is tipped upright again, the cup contains a measured amount of the substance. The top can be removed from the container and tipped to empty the cup's contents.
Although the '791 patent is meritorious to an extent in dispensing a limited amount of certain types of substances, the '791 patent's container is not suitable for dispensing limited amounts of substances such as salsa, relish or other dips or condiments, because the cup is attached to the container top, thus making it impossible for a person to dip into the cup. In addition, the cup must have openings that allow the contained substance to move into the cup upon tipping the container. Such openings necessarily limit the size of the cup and thus the amount of substance it can contain. It would be desirable to overcome these disadvantages of the apparatus of the '791 patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,923 (referred to as "the '923 patent") discloses a dip dispenser that includes a serving element that fits inside a container body and cap. The serving element has a support rim that is attached to a food-support bowl by spaced arm elements. The bowl is concave with respect to the cap when placed on the container body. When the container is tipped upside down and shaken with the cap in place, the contained dip flows through gaps defined between the support rim, the bowl, and the arm elements to rest against the cap. When returned to its upright position, the dip falls from the cap to the bowl where it is contained. The cap is then removed to serve the dip.
Although the '923 patent purports to provide the advantage of dispensing limited quantities of a dip, the '923 patent also suffers from several disadvantages. Like the '791 patent, the '923 patent depends for its operability on openings in the serving element that limit the size of the serving element's bowl and thus the amount of dip that can be held by the bowl. Therefore, to be capable of dispensing a given amount of dip, the container size must be relatively large to allow the serving element to fit inside of the container. In addition, the openings in the serving element allow ambient air to interact with the contained substance that is not dispensed in the serving element's bowl, thus allowing spoilage of the contained foodstuff. It would be desirable to overcome these disadvantages of previous dispensers.